Extra credit
by Sea Queen - JoKessho
Summary: Jou is a new teacher at Sora's university. He's stiff and no one pays attention in his lessons. Sora will help him fix that. Joura, Jyoura, AU, one-shot.


**OTP week 2017  
Pairing**: Jou and Sora (Joura/Jyoura)  
 **Prompt** : Profession/Mythology AU

A/N: Here, have a rare-pair fic: Jyoura. They honestly are un underrated pair… Please let me know what you think, whether about the pairing or the writing :)

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Um, hello everyone. My name's Jou Kido—please call me Mr. Kido—and I'll be your mythology teacher for this semester."

Bored mahogany eyes watched as the new teacher dropped his notes in his nervousness. A sigh escaped her rose-lips whilst the students around her snickered at his clumsiness. What had the university been thinking, assigning a newbie to teach? He was barely older than them!

"Ah, sorry about that." He managed to compile his notes and turned on the projector. "To start off, I wanted to give you an outline of what you can expect of this course throughout the semester."

Sora Takenouchi tuned him out in favour of staring out the window; she didn't need to hear the intricate details of the plan the rookie teacher had come up with. How he had planned every minute of every day. She didn't need to pass this class.

Sora had only taken this class to accompany her best friend, Miyako. The other young woman was majoring in history and had to take the mythology class, but didn't want to do so alone.

Sora felt the telltale nagging feeling of someone watching her. She turned her head to the front of the class and met the dark eyes of her new teacher. She smiled sweetly, getting a warning look in return.

As soon as the obsidian eyes left hers, she scoffed and returned to staring out the window. She had been lucky to get a window seat, even though it was in the second row. The scenery outside would keep her occupied this semester. It's not like he would actually do or say anything to her about her inattentiveness. He didn't seem the type.

The lighting in the room changed along with the PowerPoint slide and Sora threw a glance at the screen. It was the title slide: What is Mythology? How predictable.

Instead of taking notes, Sora doodled in her notebook. To be fair, 'doodling' was the wrong word for it; she was drawing. She had chosen to work on her favourite mythological creature: a phoenix.

The lesson passed by with Kido babbling on and on at the front, standing still as a statue, stumbling over most of his words, and reading his slides. It was no wonder no one was paying attention—save one man at the front, who was constantly asking questions, throwing Kido off even more.

The bell rang, signalling the end of the first lesson, causing Kido to panic, as he had not covered the last slide yet.

"Ah, wait!" Kido yelled over the bustle of the packing students. "I guess I'll just see you next week. Try to be early as we'll need to start with today's last slide!"

Rolling her eyes, Sora stood from her seat, stretching out the kinks in her back. It had been a long day and she was glad it was now over.

"You're quite the artist."

Sora's arms snapped down to her sides at the comment. She stared wide-eyed at her teacher.

Kido chuckled lightly, pointing to Sora's still-open notebook. "You have real skills right there. Probably means you weren't paying much attention to the lesson, but I don't know if I can fault you for that…" Kido's eyes moved to regard the floor sadly.

Frowning, Sora snapped her notebook shut and stuffed it into her bag. Miyako was standing at the door waiting for her.

"You should try having a bit more fun while teaching." Was her parting comment.

-o-o-o-

"Oh boy," Miyako sighed, walking down the school corridor with her best friend. "Time for mythology again."

Sora just shrugged, hugging her book bag to her chest. Truth be told, she was looking forward to the lesson. She had spent the whole week wondering whether Kido had taken her advice and would be more casual today.

"That teacher is such a drag…" Miyako continued, her arms drooping along with her posture.

"Still an interesting subject, though, isn't it?" Came a new, male voice from behind the girls.

They turned to see the man that had been asking all those questions last week.

"Oh, hello." Miyako stepped away from Sora, offering the space to their classmate. "Can you actually pay any attention to that guy? He's such a drag."

"Yeah he is." The man shrugged. "But I just ask questions to screw with his lesson plan."

Sora stepped forward, opening the classroom door for her classmates.

"Ugh!" Miyako threw her head back, stepping into the room. "Think about the rest of us; there will be tests! If we don't cover all his planned content, we'll have questions that were never covered!"

"Learn it yourself."

The purple-haired girl rolled her eyes and walked to her seat and sat down, ending the conversation.

Sora shrugged at the man and they took their own seats. Sora pulled out her notebook and continued working on her drawing.

Despite his request last week, Kido turned out to be late for the lesson.

"Sorry I'm late!" He announced, rushing into the classroom. "Let's get started right away."

And so the lesson began.

There was no noticeable improvement in Kido's presenting style, which irked Sora to no end. Had he not listened or was he just stiff and boring naturally?

By the time the lesson was over, Sora had finished her phoenix and gotten started on a sphinx. She liked drawing wings.

"Takenouchi?" Kido was, yet again, standing at her desk after class. "Sorry to keep you after, but I have a small request."

Sora's eyebrows shot up. If he hadn't listened to her advice before, why would he be asking for something now?

"Yes?" Sora asked as it became clear that he was waiting for a response.

"Um, would you be willing to draw or share the drawings you have with the class?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, I was thinking that it would be a nice way to introduce the beasts. And it might also make me seem more approachable to the whole class, if I got some of you to join in on the lessons."

Sora just sat there, in her seat, blinking stupidly up at her teacher.

"I mean, you don't have to agree, but I've been thinking about what you said last week and thought that incorporating you all into the teaching process would help make these lessons a bit more interesting."

Blinking twice more, Sora turned her attention to the bag in her lap. She pulled out the mythology notebook, opening it to the drawing page.

"The phoenix turned out amazing." Kido complimented, earning a slight blush from the student.

"Thanks. These aren't the best drawings, though, so I don't know about sharing them with everyone…"

"Ah," Kido put his hands up in front of him. "Like I said, you don't have to."

Sora looked up again. "I could draw nicer ones."

Shocked, Kido dropped his hands. "Really?" A nod, which caused a smile to spread across the teacher's face. "That's great! Thank you, Takenouchi. Of course, I'll be giving you extra credit for doing this."

Sora nodded, smiling, despite not needing the credit. "If it's possible, that would be great."

"Of course." Kido promised, letting Sora leave for home.

-o-o-o-

The next week, Sora stayed after without prompting. She stood, clutching a file to her chest, waiting for the other students to leave the room. Miyako threw her a questioning glance, but Sora ignored it.

"Takenouchi?" Kido asked, looking up from his seat at the teacher's desk.

"Sora, please." She corrected, looking at the floor with a slight blush. "I brought some drawings of mythological creatures that I've been working on. Some are older, but others I drew this past week."

Kido's eyes widened and he stood, making his way around the desk to where Sora was standing.

"May I?" He asked, reaching a hand out.

Sora placed the file into his open palm and waited for his reaction. None came for a long time. Kido flicked through the pictures, getting through them all, then going back to repeat the process.

After the fourth round, he dropped the hands holding the papers and stared at Sora.

"These are amazing." He glanced down at them. "I really mean it. They're way better than any I have ever seen."

"Really?" Sora asked, astounded by the feedback.

"Yeah, they're great! The detail you included in each and every one is just unbelievable."

"Thanks. Are there any specific ones you want me to draw? I forgot to ask last week."

"Hmm." Kido put a finger to his chin. "I was thinking of introducing Empusa to the class. Have you heard of her?" Sora shook her head, so Kido continued: "Not surprising; she's not very well known, so there aren't many pictures of her. Just descriptions. She's said to have two forms: a beautiful young woman and a monster with flaming hair, sharp fangs, and bat wings."

Sora took mental notes of the description.

"She would often seduce young men on their travels, wait until they were asleep, and devour them. She had a great affinity for human flesh. In one story." Kido stopped short, blinking at the chuckling Sora. "What?"

Sora straightened her face, though still smiling. "Sorry, but this is what I was talking about last time." She tilted her head, observing the teacher. "This enthusiasm is what's missing from your lessons. You seemed to into the telling of Empusa's story that it made me interested in her, too."

"Really?"

"Yes." Sora placed a hand on Jou's forearm. "Just let yourself go and be passionate about the topic. I know you have it in you."

"Ahah." Jou scratched the back of his neck. "It's not inappropriate for a teacher to be that enthusiastic?"

"Not at all." Sora shook her head. "It's what will make your lessons the best in the school."

"Alright." Jou enthused. "I'll see you next week and I promise you'll actually want to pay attention."

Sora laughed, light and bright.

-o-o-o-

Sora let out a long breath, standing outside an office door in the university building she took the mythology classes in. The name 'Jou Kido' was written on a plaque on the right. She clutched her file closer to her chest before knocking.

"Yes?" Came the answering call from inside.

With a deep breath, Sora slid open the door and stepped inside.

"Ah, Sora. To what do I owe this pleasure? We don't have class until tomorrow."

"I know." Sora said, sheepish. "But I sketched out a picture of Empusa and wanted your input on her."

Jou reached over to take the offered piece of paper from the girl, motioning for her to pull up a chair.

Sora had drawn two figures onto the paper: on the left was a normal-looking woman, whilst the right half contained a more distorted one. The right-side woman's hair was sticking up like a bonfire, her teeth and nails were elongated to pointed fangs. Two webbed wings were drawn behind her.

"She has the beauty of the woman on the left, but the deadliness of the mythological creature. It's perfect."

Sora beamed, taking the picture back and slipping it into the file.

"Listen, since you're here, can I run my improved lesson plan by you? I've improved greatly, but I want to get it right with you oldest lot."

-o-o-o-

The next day Sora almost ran to her mythology class. Planning the lesson with Jou had been fun and the teacher had finally given in to the idea of having fun whilst teaching. On top of an enthusiastic presentation, Jou had asked to scan Sora's phoenix and sphinx pictures, so he could use them as teaching material.

Sora settled into her seat, pulling out her notebook. This was going to be fun.

Just as the class settled down, Jou walked in through the door announcing: "Eternal life." All heads turned to look at him as he marched to the front of the class. "Eternal life. Being constantly reborn. Such is the life of the phoenix." He turned on the projector.

Sora, along with her classmates, was left staring in wonder.

"Today is the day of the phoenix." Jou beamed at the attention he was getting. He threw a winning smile at Sora before plunging into the material. "The phoenix has analogues in many different cultures."

Students were actually taking notes and engaging in conversation with him and each other. They were enjoying the class!

"Mr. Kido?" A woman in the back of the class asked, raising her hand. "I think you may have covered this, but I forgot." She looked sheepish and everyone knew that she, like all others, had not paid attention.

"Go on."

"Well, I think you gave us a definition of what 'myth' is…?"

The bell rang. No one moved, awaiting Jou's reply.

"Ah," Jou was clearly taken aback that the class _wanted_ to listen to him. "Yes, well a myth is—briefly—defined as a traditional story or belief that is not true."

"But how can someone prove that it's not true?" Daisuke asked. "I mean, you said that the phoenix was mention in many different cultures that didn't necessarily interact. So how can they all come up with a sun-bird if it didn't really exist?"

Jou chuckled, packing his papers together. "That has been debated quite a lot." He glanced at the clock. "It would take too long to explain now, but how about I start with that next lesson?"

There was an affirmative murmur and the students finally started packing their things.

Sora dashed to the teacher's desk as the last of her classmates left.

"See?" She giggled. "I told you it'd be fine. Everyone was so into the lesson today!"

Jou chuckled again, regarding Sora with warmth. "Thank you."

Sora blushed at the sincerity, brushing a nonexistent speck of dust off her skirt. "It was all your doing, though."

"Still, Sora, thank you for making me do it."

Sora giggled, bidding farewell to the teacher for the day.

"Wait."

Sora turned, casting an inquisitive glance at Jou.

"I was kind of wondering if I could take you out to dinner sometime? Like on a date?"

The young woman turned fully, facing the teacher. Then she beamed. "I'd love that."


End file.
